Present day mining operations in the western states, cause thousands of tons of abrasive and heavy, silicone based quarry material to pass through chutes on the way to processing crushers. Oftentimes the chutes assume a near vertical orientation such that the quarry material accelerates until it reaches the bottom of the chute and then proceeds horizontally. The impact and wear caused thereby results in extensive damage to the chute walls in minimal time. Accordingly, such chutes have been made thicker at the impact area; however, when the wear becomes excessive the operation of the processor must be halted while the expensive, time consuming and arduous repair efforts are undertaken.
Recently, metallic wear runners from excavating buckets such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,666, have been adapted for use as temporary wear reducers; however, these devices are metallic and wear out in a matter of days. Further complicating the matter is the fact that current wear members have a tendency to become dislodged or broken and then pass into the crusher machinery, thereby damaging the downstream processing machinery. It has been contemplated that resilient members could be used, however the highly abrasive nature of the quarry material destroys resilient members even more rapidly than the metal members. It is also noteworthy to mention that the metallic wear members currently in use are quite heavy and present a danger to workers who must physically carry them into chutes to effect repairs. Therefore, it is clear that a wear element or elements having improved service life is greatly needed.